Paper Cranes
by PatrickMcKinney
Summary: Seto takes steps towards forgiveness and a trust begins to form between him and an old enemy. SetoPegasus only if you look for it. One Shot.


A/N: A fic I wrote about a year ago. Being indecisive, there are two different endings, each continues from the end of the previous ending. Yeah. A little odd. This was when I first started folding my 1000 cranes. A whole bunch of ideas rolled into one fic, an interesting one being what if you had a very emotional personal dream while sleeping on an airplane? Yeah.

Paper Cranes/Forgiveness

Seto Kaiba settled back in his Business Class seat, carefully setting his briefcase at his feet. Stifling a yawn he checked his watch. 8 hours until he reached the proper destination. He sighed softly in annoyance at his client arranging a mandatory meeting with such short notice.

"Kaiba-boy!" said an ecstatic voice from behind him. "What a coincidence!"

Seto turned and saw exactly who he feared.

"What, you aren't glad to see me?" the silver-haired man asked innocently.

Seto rolled his eyes and turned forward again without a word, hoping he would go back to his seat quickly if ignored. He was rather surprised when Pegasus sat in the seat next to him. He raised an eyebrow, shooting Pegasus a questioning look.

"You're going to have to vocalize the question to get an answer you know."

"This is your seat?"

"I'm sitting here aren't I?"

"No First Class VIP seat for you?"

Pegasus looked at him in fond exasperation. "You never were fond of that sort of thing were you?"

Seto snorted derisively and settled back into his seat, closing his eyes with a finality that said he was finished talking.

Pegasus playfully stuck his tongue out at the indifferent teen next to him, expecting one cerulean eye to open and give him the famous glare, but no such thing happened. Upon closer inspection, Pegasus realized the boy was fast asleep. (Imagine falling asleep within a minute! Poor boy.)

The icy eyes closed in light slumber, breathing softly, his face unusually calm. The contrast between his usual tenseness and this tranquility was surprising. Pegasus smiled and pulled out hi book, now and then glancing at Seto to check if he was awake.

dream sequence

Seto was eight again. He watched through the bars of the Orphanage's iron gate as his relatives drove away without so much as a backward glance. Then he was playing chess with Gozaburo. He watched himself betray Mokuba for the company, watched himself torment his classmates, Yugi's huge purple eyes filling with innocent tears. He saw Mokuba waiting up for Seto to come home, only to be partially ignored as he stumbled upstairs to bed. He saw Pegasus being refused the technology he so desperately wanted, he watched Mokuba lose his soul, small form going limp, and he cursed himself and his pride.

end dream

"Hm?" Pegasus responded absentmindedly as he heard Seto mutter something. As there was no answer, he looked back at Seto, and realized he was no longer sleeping peacefully. His whole being was tensed, eyebrows drawn together in a semblance of fear.

Pegasus put a hand on Seto's shoulder, shaking him softly to wake him.

"Kaiba-boy…"

No response.

Worried, he shook him a little more. "Seto!"

Seto's eyes snapped open, staring into the empty air in front of him for a moment, eyes wide in fear, breath short with surprise at the sudden jolt back to reality.

"Kaiba-boy?" Pegasus voiced his worry hesitantly.

His voice brought Seto back to the present. He closed his eyes momentarily pulling the effects of the dream back into himself, muttering a customary apology to Pegasus for disturbing him.

He leaned down and pulled a manila folder from a pocket in his briefcase, setting it down on the folding table in front of it. Quietly he pulled a blue square of paper out of it's multicolored doubles and began to fold.

Pegasus watched quietly as the paper changed shape, guessing at what it might be. Seto's long delicate fingers moved gracefully, creasing folds, straightening edges and smoothing out wrinkles. Pegasus raised both eyebrows as a crane blossomed on the desk. Picking it up, Seto blew carefully into the bottom inflating the body of the crane. Setting this one on the table pulled out another piece of paper and began again. After the fifth crane, Pegasus laughed softly.

"How many of those do you intend to make Kaiba-boy?"

Seto was silent for a moment as he folded the paper diagonally.

"A thousand."

Pegasus was surprised. He looked at him carefully to see if he was joking or not.

"A thousand?"

Seto nodded as he continued to fold.

There was silence, until Seto answered his unspoken question.

"My mother told me that if you fold a thousand paper cranes in a year, you get a wish.

Pegasus stared at the crane. "A wish?"

Seto smiled slightly as he folded the beak.

Pegasus was silent for a moment as he watched Seto finish the crane and set it gently on the table. When Seto pulled another piece of paper from the folder, Pegasus spoke again, more carefully.

"What are you wishing for?" He wasn't able to keep a small waver of hesitancy at asking this out of his voice.

Seto's fingers stopped the paper still flat and clean on the table.

"What I'm wishing for…" Seto's voice was distant as he thought, repeating Pegasus's question to himself. He was silent for a long while, looking at the paper on his desk.

"Happiness." Pegasus opened his mouth to say something but Seto wasn't finished. "I want happiness for- the people I've hurt."

Pegasus watched in astonishment. The emotion in Seto's eyes was almost frightening, a mixture of pain and bitterness directed at himself.

"It's a selfish wish really, asking for forgiveness."

Pegasus stared at the man before him, old beyond his years. Far older and worn than he had a right to be. He'd become a man before he was a child.

Pegasus put a hand on Seto's arm before he could think better of it. Seto didn't respond, yet he didn't flinch away.

"Seto, Look at me."

Surprised at the used of his name, he turned.

"If that's what you want, you won't get it."

Seto swallowed, beginning to withdraw into himself again, regretting this moment of vulnerability. "It doesn't-

"You already have it. The only person who won't forgive you is you."

Seto looked at Pegasus for a moment, then turned back to his seat. "That's harder than it sounds."

"I know. I'm still trying."

Seto looked sharply back at Pegasus, meeting his eyes. Pegasus could almost feel the intensity of his gaze looking straight through him, judging what he found.

Seto broke their gaze and they both turned back to their seats. After two more cranes, Seto broke the silence. Fingering the last crane, he spoke. Somehow the mask of ice had cracked just a tiny bit, because he looked almost regretful.

Softly, he asked, "Do you want me to show you how to make them?"

Owari!


End file.
